I met him a while ago and he is soooo cute! He is taller than I thought...maybe 5 foot 6 or 5 foot 7 (still short but I thought he was shorter)...and he has some gray hair so he must dye it for the shows I told him that he was my favorite designer and he was so excited

Lanvin's Alber Elbaz. Scent and Sensibility
Alber Elbaz Riffs on Lanvin's New Fragrance (and Much More Besides)
May 4, 2007 Ė In town for the "Party of the Year" and to promote Lanvin's fragrance, Rumeur, at Saks Fifth Avenue, Alber Elbaz sat down with Style.com's Laird Borrelli. Here, his musings on the pitfalls of success, the newly reinvented scent, and why mother knows best.

Blue Period
"Many years ago when I was working with Mr. Beene, they would send me to Saks to help to do the windows. So I learned the basement of Saks. I know the people who work in the basement, I know the secretaries, I know the assistants. This is my world. I'm a blue-collar worker myself. I feel very comfortable in this world. And now I come here and the CEO is greeting me, but I'm coming from the basement!"

Cinderella Complex
"Cinderella stories are always good, but what keeps you really alive and strong is not to lose your feet, not to lose the place where you stand, which is easy to do if you start to believe that you are famous and you are a star and you only give 10-minute interviews."

Beyond Perfect
"After fame, perfection is the most dangerous word in the world. There is nothing after perfection."

Mother Knows Best
"I was talking to my mother this morning and telling her that I was chosen as one of the Time 100. 'Don't tell too many people,' she told me."

Vote Elbaz
"I am very feminist and democratic, so I can run for president."

What's in a Name
"I have worked for many houses in the past, and when I compare a house like Lanvin, it is one that may not have a tradition, but it has a heritage. Tradition can block you because there is one way of doing things. At Lanvin, with our heritage, we can do anything we want because we have a great last nameóand we have Rumeur."

Hip to Be Square
"We took the roundness of the original bottle and gave it a little bit of squareness, which for me was a bit more modern. We kept the Cocteau-style writing. I like how Rumeur is written by hand; it expresses a kind of nervousness, instead of the typical sweet and glitzy and dreamy and rosy qualities often associated with fragrances."

Beneath the Skin
"Our ad is a little bit dark. Why does a perfume ad have to feature a blonde lying on a couch and kind of fainting? Is the smell that bad? We were working on our campaign with Steven Meisel and Amanda Moore. She told me that she gave all her savings to her brother when he came back from the war so that he could buy an apartment. And I found that so generous that she became even more beautiful to me. You know, today with computers, you can change the color of eyes and hair, so it doesn't matter how beautiful you are, but what you reflect."

ĖLaird Borrelli

style.com

__________________

"It is not money that makes you well dressed: it is understanding."
ChristianDior

I must say I was in Barneys or Bergdorff's last spring looking at the Lanvin clothes and I was really blown away by the construction. Its simplicity and complexity. I can't give an example right now of what im talking about, but I remember going back the next day to get another look at the stuff.

I met him a while ago and he is soooo cute! He is taller than I thought...maybe 5 foot 6 or 5 foot 7 (still short but I thought he was shorter)...and he has some gray hair so he must dye it for the shows I told him that he was my favorite designer and he was so excited

For a branch of fashion that matters to very few people, haute couture generates serious debate. In early July, Dior will celebrate its 60th anniversary with a show at Versailles. Valentino will have a 45th blow-out in Rome. Thereís a sense, however, that couture is again in some kind of transit phase. The Valentino company has a new owner and thereís a question of what will happen to couture when Valentino retires. This past Thursday, in Paris, I sat down with Alber Elbaz to ask what couture means to a younger generation of design innovators. What would induce a designer like Elbaz, or Marc Jacobs, or Nicolas Ghesquiere, to want to be part of an old-school couture house? Are theyóand fashionómissing something?

Elbaz: You know, almost every collection I do has 200 different references. I donít have two of the same coat, two of the same dress. I have it in one color, in one fabric. Iíve tried to adapt the culture of couture, and the know-how and the heritage, but I try to update it.

A couple of things have changed in womenís lives. Twenty or 30 years ago, they had different bodies. They werenít so into sports and exercise. Bodies were very difficult to fit then. And I donít think women in the past were as emotionally strong as they are today. It was very important for them to look beautiful. Now they want to be smart, active. So fashion is not enough anymore. Itís not just about what you wear. I mean, I donít know how many women can afford to take the time to come to Paris for three fittings.

I think itís important to still support couture because weíre supporting a technique, a dream. The problem with couture is not designers; itís what happens when the couturier will no longer be there. When you go to the big ateliers, almost everybody is in his or her 60s. I spoke about it with Karl Lagerfeld and he said at Chanel there are also a lot of young people. But in many houses the age of the workers is quite high. What will happen in five years?

Q: But do you think the knowledge will be lost if young designers like yourself donít pursue couture?

A: If I donít have an atelier, I am a paralyzed man. But when I started working at Saint Laurent, I inherited two ateliers from the haute couture. I gave them a jacket and I got it back three weeks later. It took them three weeks to make a jacket. I had a flou atelier with 20 people and one sewing machine. ONE. Everything was done by hand. Try and get a skirt made quickly. Itís a big question you are asking. Do you keep the past by going forward or do you have to maintain it in order to exist?

Almost everybody I work with at Lanvin is from the haute couture. So I work with all those seamstresses and pattern-cutters that did couture. Theyíre no longer doing the made-to-measure, but theyíre still doing clothes the same way.

I work on fittings mostly. You know, I sketch less and less in my work. I sketch for the show sometimes, but then it becomes more conceptual. But when I donít sketch it becomes more pragmatic.

Q: But do you think Chanel and Valentino need to have haute couture once Lagerfeld and Valentino decide to retire?

A: Iím going to contradict myself big time. I had lunch recently with the president of DeBeers and I asked him who his competitors were. He said, ďArt.Ē When you have a million dollars in your bank account ready to be burned, you have a choice today to buy a diamond ring or a painting.

You know, when Mr. Beene finished designing, he finished. When Mr. Saint Laurent finished, he finished. There was no continuation. If Valentino and Chanel want to continue, let it be. Who are we to say if itís right? If they love doing couture, if dressing 20 celebrities for the red carpet and some rich ladies around the world makes them happy, go for it. Go for whatever you believe in as a long as you donít fake it. I donít know how to do sportswear pieces with, like, seven pockets. [Elbaz laughs.] If you sent me to work for Banana Republic, theyíd fire me in a week.

But back to DeBeers. I see also another thing happening in the world. I read these stories in financial newspapers that say a business was sold for $3 billion. Wow! Or someoneís salary is $75 million. Doing what? Reading some lines? [He laughed.] Iím dying here. Weíre working our asses off, and we donít even get close to one eighth of an eighth. So, Iím saying that maybe now with all this big money thereís going to be a new couture client.

Q: Yes, but people said that in the 90s with the high-tech explosion. But I donít see folks from Microsoft or Google at couture. Theyíre into art, maybe.

A: Yes, but when they have the art in the house, next they want the dress. To go next to the swimming pool.

Q: Nan Kempner may have been ga-ga for couture, but she also appreciated the craft and fit. Can a generation raised in casual clothes suddenly acquire this appreciation?

A: I believe they will. Theyíre not dumb people. Theyíve made a lot of money. These are also the kind of people who mad their money themselves. And theyíre new women with a new lifestyle. Theyíre working women. Theyíre something more pragmatic about their needs.

Q: One snag for coutureís future is time. People want beautiful things but they want them faster. And designers have to turn out other stuff today, like handbags and shoes?

A: How do we define haute couture? Is it one-of-a-kind? Is it all about made-to-measure? For me, itís about being innovative and going forward. Cutting in a different way. Taking fabrics and developing them. I see all these Macintoshes being glued today, and I think, Letís see what happens there. Can we move that idea forward? Thatís what couture is for me. Itís the ability to innovate.

I always sayóIíve said it a hundred timesófashion and food are alike. Take French cuisine and just cut out a little bit of the butter and the fat. The recipe is divine. Take haute couture: Itís beautiful. I could not live without my atelier. Well, do it in a different way.

Q: Donít you think Chanel does it in a modern way?

A: Iím sure Chanel does. Karl is a very, very good designer. Heís very intelligent. And Valentino, too. I was thinking of going to the Valentino show in Rome, just to give respect to a man whoís been doing this for 45 years. How many dresses heís designed! How many women heís made look beautiful!

Q: If you own a jacket made by hand in Paris, you know thereís a difference in the way it fits and feels on your body. A lot of designers like to use handwork because it makes their garments more special and harder to copy. But a garment thatís entirely constructed by hand feels different, because of the way the fabric is handled. Doesnít this matter in the long run to fashion?

A: There is something special about clothes that are made by women and not by machine. They do something for the clothes. There is a huge difference when I see a suit, or pants and a shirt being done by the atelier, and the same pieces done by a factory. Itís an emotion. Zara canít copy that. Maybe thatís why we do almost all the clothes at Lanvin on the body.

Q: The issue of time is interesting, though.

A: The older generation of couturiers had more time to create. They created less, they were protectedónobody could see their work. They were working in a cocoon. They were not celebrities. They were technicians, in a way. Today, when all the designers see each other, itís what we talk aboutóthe lack of time. Weíre like sisters in a big family!

But there are good things and bad things about not having enough time. Not having time can help you create a kind of fearless fashion. You are forced to touch only whatís essential, whatís important, and what isnít false.

Q: For sure, Paris couture will be another story in 10 years.

A: But the knowledge wonít be lost. You know, I was trained by Mr. Beene, then I was re-educated at Saint Laurent. I learned from two masters. I learned from their techniques. Have you ever seen those corsets of Saint Laurent? There was a corset and then on top, a chiffon dress. Those dresses were like air. And you saw the nipples of the girls and you thought, How could that happen under a corset? Well, there is a certain corset that is cut around the bust, so that itís out. It gives the bust a fragility, so it doesnít look like a Toyota. [He laughed.] You see how Mr. Beene would take one dart and bring it to another place. Whatever Iíve learned from them, I have given to people who have worked with me. They take everything that I taught them and they continue. So there you go. Couture cannot die.

__________________ And I am nothing of a builder, but here I dreamt I was an architect And I built this balustrade to keep you home, to keep you safe from the outside world